The decision was a good one because by 10 o'clock the wind was howling! Plan B. Explore Quadra Island. Quadra Island is one of the larger islands sitting between the V.I. & the mainland. It only took 15 mins to get there on the car ferry (above).
Cape Mudge to the south west of the island is home to a lighthouse (above). We looked out to where we were floating amongst all the orcas the day before and across the passage to Campbell River. 
Not long after leaving the lighthouse we saw a bald eagle above us. I couldn't help stopping the car & taking its photo.
The south east of the island is home to Rebecca Spit (above & below), a peninsular that spears off the island creating Heriot Bay (below). Discovery Passage islands are a natural dumping ground for the floating logs that wash out of the forests. The Rebecca Spit beaches are no exception. Some of the weird shapes of the smooth logs make for nice photos.
We drove to the other side of the bay to Heriot Cove where the ferry to a near-by island leaves from. There is a neat little hotel called the Heriot Bay Inn (how inventive). What better place to have lunch, shelter from the wind & look out over the marina (below). It was all very civilized & lunch was very nice. We thought how lucky we were to be in the pub rather than being bashed around in a boat. 
After lunch we followed the main road to the north east of the island. Eventually we came to a bridge between two lakes (Village Bay Lake pictured below). It is probably the most uninspiring lake I'd seen in Canada. On the other side of the bridge the road turned into a dirt road. We explored a little further, but soon realised it was a road for residents, not tourists so we turned around & headed back.
Somehow we missed the turn off to the dirt road that goes to the north of the island & ended up nearly back at Cape Mudge! We were getting low on fuel & it was getting late in the afternoon so we caught the next ferry back to Campbell River. The roads to the north of the island are pretty much dirt logging roads so it may well have been a good plan anyway.
Back on the mainland we hung around near or in the hotel & watched the world go by. Just before 5 we drove out to Moose Falls (above) in the hope of seeing 5 o'clock Charlie.
He was a little late that day but only by 10 minutes. Lucky a Kingfisher was there to entertain us.
When Charlie showed up he set about scooping dead salmon out of the pond. The difference this time was that he was aware of us & kept dragging the salmon into the trees to eat them. Sadly we said goodbye to Charlie & headed back to town.
We had dinner at the nice seafood place from a couple of nights previous.It was a good outcome for the day that would have been a lot less pleasant on a small boat in rough weather.
